Tilda Swinton, 2008: This dress is not well-loved but the look is iconic and all Tilda. The black washed silk Lanvin is a Frankenstein of a frock: all baggy and long-sleeved on one side and straight up and down sleeveless on the other side. But Tilda (somehow referring to her as "Swinton" seems too formal) wore it proudly with her red pompadour as she collected her best supporting actress Oscar for "Michael Clayton." Tilda will be forever remembered for the "Hefty bag" dress and for one unanswered question torturing fashionistas the world over: why didn't she at least wear the cuff on the sleeveless arm? (Daniel A. Anderson/Orange County Register/MCT)

Tilda Swinton, 2008: This dress is not well-loved but the look is iconic and all Tilda. The black washed silk Lanvin is a Frankenstein of a frock: all baggy and long-sleeved on one side and straight up and down

The glamorous award season — when fab often collides with flub on the red carpet — comes to a Hollywood halt Sunday night with the 85th Academy Awards.

And still, after multiple award shows, there's no definitive dread carpet moment of the Björk kind — that instant thrill and shrill we back-seat fashionistas live for when an egg is laid, like the one Björk delivered at the Oscars in 2001.

To this day the Icelandic actress is recalled for a dress that should have been recalled: a ridiculous — but oh so fun to make fun of — wraparound swan creation she wore on the world's most famous catwalk.

The dress, designed by British designer Marjan Pejoski, was quite the talk that evening and today remains a much-blathered about bad dress among red carpet baggers (fashionistas, me included, who live to pick apart the gown selections of Tinseltown's A-list actresses).

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At my house on Oscar night (and I'm guessing also at houses across San Antonio), everyone is a Joan Rivers ranger, gleefully hating on dresses that should retire to the hall of shame.

I doubt that the high-fashion frock by Christian Lacroix that Uma Thurman wore to the 2004 Oscars was meant to be compared to the garb of a yodeling Swiss milkmaid. But that's what that mess of a dress was, what with its quasi suspenders attached to a turquoise belt cinching in awkward sheer white layers. Got milk, Uma?

That same year Diane Keaton channeled Annie Hall-meets-Charlie Chaplin in a long, gender-bending cutaway jacket over a mashup of stripes and polka dots on high-waisted pants, a shrunken vest and a wide tie. The only thing missing was a toothbrush moustache.

In 1999, Celine Dion wore a menswear-inspired suit, too. Hers was in white by Christian Dior and worn backward, the double-breasted front plunging dangerously low in the back. She topped it all with a matching pimp hat.

Geena Davis in 1992 was up for best actress in “Thelma & Louise.” But her gown was more “The Accidental Tourist,” an unforgivable ruffled mullet of a monstrosity: an eyesore of gathered puffs that was micro-mini in front and long in the back.

Maybe Davis was inspired by Demi Moore, who a few years earlier as an Oscar presenter turned up in a mullet creation of her own — yes, she designed it — and wore it with bicycle shorts — yes, of the spandex sort. The shorts were fully exposed in the front.

Some actresses, such as Angelina Jolie, have gotten it wrong but redeemed themselves later with stunning choices, including accessories like Brad Pitt or a jutting leg. But it was Jolie's 2000 goth glamour gown by Versace and straight, stringy hair that had her channeling Morticia Addams. Still, for all her trick-or-treat styling, Jolie walked away with a treat of her own: the Oscar for “Girl, Interrupted.”

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mySA.com: Go online Sunday and Monday for photo galleries of the red carpet, best and worst dressed, and the night's big winners.

In 2009 Marisa Tomei swept onto the red carpet in a splendid Versace single-strap gown with a dramatic train. But years earlier, she should have walked a plank, not the red carpet, after showing up in a two-piece pirate costume with a ruffle-tiered blouse tucked into a dreary long black skirt. Arg, but it was ugly.

Last year, Gwyneth Paltrow left her peers in the red carpet dust with her chic and powerful Tom Ford white cape dress. But in 2002 she arrived at the Oscars in a ghastly goth get-up from Lacroix — sans a bra, leaving her breasts droopy and lopsided.

Swinton, in 2008, wore a black Hefty bag-like gown designed by Alber Elbaz for Lanvin. It was sleeveless and form-fitting on one side and a hot air balloon on the other with a sleeve that swallowed her arm.

For sure, Sunday night's red carpet walk will be more glam than gaffe, filled with perfectly pulled-together gowns and accessories that are on trend.

After all, one would think that good taste should trump goofy choices such as Björk's, which many viewed as an outrageous publicity stunt.

Regardless, the now infamous frock — with the swan's neck wrapped like a halter around her neck and resting its beak on her breasts — was the evening's highlight during a rather play-it-safe ho-hum Hollywood night.